Sever, p.7
Sever, page 7
He got a radio check from all elements to verify that no one had been lost in the tunnel and was relieved when everyone answered. Mike bid farewell to the city that he’d once called home before relocating to Hoosick Falls and directed his company toward the new defensive line. As they pushed their way through even more zombies, he wondered if he’d ever see New York again.
*****
21 September, 0752 hrs local
The Lincoln Tunnel, New Jersey Side
Weehawken, New Jersey
The Leader watched the humans leave. Much like the flying machines that they used in the home city, the men inside the giant vehicles were untouchable as long as they stayed inside. No matter, the Followers were now moving into the large city and their numbers would swell even greater.
The human resistance was weak and had crumbled quickly. The Leader was surprised at how easily they’d taken the city. The creature had expected to lose millions in the fight, but nowhere near that many had been destroyed. The Master would be pleased and surely order its Followers to attack the humans surrounding the home city. Once the home city was free, the remaining Chosen could follow the Leader’s example and travel in the opposite direction along the coast.
Once all of the humans were gone, the Leader would then challenge the Master. It knew that it could beat the small Chosen in a physical battle, but the Master had a massive amount of power in its mind. The Leader planned to use the victory as a means of getting close to the Master when its guard was down and destroy it.
If the Leader had retained the ability to smile, it would have. Instead, the creature just allowed its hatred of the humans and the Master to grow.
*****
29 September, 0903 hrs local
Rocky Mountain Manor
Denver, Colorado
“Alright, tell me what we’ve got,” President Wilson stated. “The goddamned network news keeps getting the information before I do and that pisses me off.”
“Sir, we’ve completely lost Philadelphia, New York, Hartford, Providence and Boston. The creatures hit New York hard and continued north along the coast until just past Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Now it looks like they’ve turned around and are spreading southwest back into the more populated areas.”
“Well fuck, Rob. Do you have any good news?”
The Secretary of Homeland Security picked nervously at his cuticles; the weather was turning colder and he got horrible hangnails every winter as his skin dried out. He looked up toward the president and replied, “Frankly, sir, no. These things continually wipe the floor with the police and citizens who stand up to them. There’s just too many of them.”
“I don’t want to hear it, Rob,” President Wilson said with a slice of his hand across the air between them. “I kept you on from the Holmes administration because you were the best fit for the job and we knew that there was a problem in DC. Don’t flake out on me now. I need you to figure this out.”
“Yes, sir,” the Secretary answered. “We’re at a loss on how to stop these things without requesting the military to bomb the hell out of the cities.”
“Let me step in, sir,” General Zollman said. “We have a plan to stop them utilizing a series of defensive lines to delay the creatures while we build an impenetrable fortification, in conjunction with the Canadians from the Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. We’ll stop them east of the Appalachian Mountains and then counterattack to clean them out of the northeast.”
“My God, didn’t we learn our lesson with The Wall? Keeping those things contained is only inviting disaster in the future. Let alone the sheer magnitude of it all,” Kelly Flannigan interjected.
President Wilson sat back and ran a hand over his face. “Let’s hear him out, Kelly. So you’re suggesting that we abandon the entire East Coast to these creatures, Gabe?”
“I’m gonna be honest with you, sir—”
“Good. Nobody else is ever truthful around me. Let me hear why you think this is a good idea, General. And how you think we could accomplish it.”
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs leaned forward to regain the distance that the president had put between them when he moved away from the table. “Sir, if we don’t develop a defensive perimeter, then the zombies can overrun us—or simply bypass us—anywhere they choose.
“We need to delay them on the eastern side of the mountains, give our engineers, the Homeland guys—hell, even the state Department of Transportation—time to build the barricades. We’ll start by blocking off the roads, use the terrain to our advantage, and keep them out of the rest of the country. The engineers that I’ve spoken with think that the big 40-foot shipping containers, stacked two high would be enough.”
“That would be an astronomical number of shipping containers,” the Secretary of Energy, an engineer by trade, muttered.
“It’s 1,220 miles from Rochester, New York to Mobile, Alabama,” the general replied. “The Canadians are already building their own version from the Great lakes to the Hudson. The math works out that we’d need 161,000 shipping containers for a single layer—which is what we should build first—and then double that for the second row.
“It’s an insane cost and will take everyone working together, twenty-four hours a day. We made the mistake of letting them live inside The Wall and it came back to bite us in the ass. We’re not going to do it that way this time. Once the new defensive barriers are completed we can go in and utilize specialized forces to wipe these things out. It will keep them from creating massive new armies when they overrun our defenses, killing our soldiers and civilians. We just need time to get the barrier constructed.”
“And that’s why you want me to use the National Guard and police as frontline troops to delay them,” the president concluded.
“Yes, sir,” the general conceded. “It’s not any different than simply fighting them and falling back with each loss. We’re just asking the lines to hold longer so we can construct the barriers and properly evacuate the civilians ahead of time.”
Ryan Wilson let his breath out and then turned to the rest of his National Security Council and asked, “Okay, what do you guys think?”
Chip Bullis was the first to clear his throat, “Sir, I think it’s the right thing to do. We get ahead of the outbreak, establish a viable response that will allow us to counterpunch and then ultimately defeat the enemy.”
The man had been the CIA’s top spook for Alfred Holmes’ administration before being elevated to the Director of National Intelligence under President Wilson. “It also allows the people to see that we have a plan,” Chip continued. “They will see the wisdom of avoiding as many losses as possible and take heart in the fact that we’re going to kick the creatures’ asses on our own terms once the proper conditions are set.”
“I agree, Mr. President,” Kelly said. As the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, she wasn’t technically part of the traditional National Security Council, but the president had valued her opinion for as long as he’d been in office and she’d been invaluable in securing the Charters of Freedom in the spring, which had been a major political boost for the man. “We’re losing a lot of people with the piecemeal response that we’ve put together. We need to evacuate the population westward and establish an appropriate military response. If there aren’t any civilians to the east of the mountains, we can utilize military fighter jets, helicopters, even limited non-nuclear bombing on massed groups of the creatures. It’s a smart move.”
The other standing members of the NSC agreed with the exception of the Secretary of Energy. “You execute this plan, Mr. President, and the entire eastern half of the United States will be a nuclear wasteland within a month.”
“I’m sorry, John, what was that?” the president asked in alarm.
“I said that if we do this, then the East Coast will be unsafe for human habitation for a thousand years.” John Wood consulted the open book on the table in front of him that contained his notes, “We have forty-seven nuclear power plants to the east of the Appalachian Mountains—possibly a few less depending on where you build the barriers; maybe even a few more in Tennessee and northern Alabama if we build the barrier that far west.
“We’ve been lucky so far because we have crews who were trapped and simply continued to operate the plants. If we could properly shut the reactors down and keep water pumping to the cooling rods long enough to avoid reactor melt down, then we may avoid an irreparable disaster. However, if those crews are compromised before they properly shut them down, then we’d have an ecological nightmare on our hands.”
The president wiped his face with his hand again; it was becoming a nervous gesture with the man. “Okay, John, so you’re saying that we haven’t already begun the process of shutting these places down yet?”
Secretary Wood held up his hands. “They’re private companies, sir. We can’t direct them to shut down without a major incident.”
“This is a pretty major fucking incident,” General Zollman cut in. “We hadn’t even thought about this yet… But it’s your goddamned job to keep track of this.”
“Don’t talk to me that way, General. This may be a military response, but in case you’ve forgotten, I’m still the Secretary of Energy.” The general accepted his rebuke with crossed arms and a smoldering stare.
“Alright,” John continued and looked back to the president. “If you give me the order, I can get those reactors offline and safe within a week. Expect a lot of pushback from most Americans as we turn off sixty percent of their power. We’ll experience brownouts all across the country, possibly complete blackouts in the Midwest.”
“So my options are an unhappy voting base or a nuclear meltdown in the midst of a zombie apocalypse?” the president snorted. “I don’t really see how this is even up for debate.”
“I’m just letting you know that there will be repercussions to your actions, Mr. President. I agree that since the zombie horde has swelled to such great proportions there’s no longer a real choice in the matter, but you need to know all the facts.”
“I know, John. I appreciate it. Hell of a thing isn’t it? Look at what happened to Alfred Holmes; he saved the nation six years ago, but he couldn’t win his bid for reelection. The public is only concerned with what’s good for them at the moment.”
The Secretary of Energy stared blankly at him; this would be his decision. “Okay. Gabe, I need your troops to give John enough time to get those power plants shut down and their crews evacuated so we can bring them back online when we defeat the zombies. Start construction of the barrier now. I want both layers in the north complete as soon as possible since that’s where the creatures currently are. Let’s execute your plan to use the mountains as a natural barrier against the creatures and pray that we can evacuate our citizens and not simply abandon them.”
THREE
04 October, 0719 hrs local
Asher Hawke’s Residence
Rocky Mount, North Carolina
The sun streamed through the blinds in Asher’s bedroom and hit his closed eyelids, waking him up. His shoulder ached and he realized that he couldn’t move his hand. There was some type of strange pressure against him, holding him to the ground against his will. Instantly, his mind flashed to the idea that he’d been captured. Reality came quickly as the panic that had gripped his heart in an icy fist subsided. He’d been retired for a long time, what he thought was the ground was only his mattress and his arm was underneath his blonde-haired companion.
Asher shifted slightly and eased himself out from underneath Rachel’s body. He staggered to the bathroom and closed the door for privacy. As he stood in front of the toilet, pins and needles exploded up and down his arm with the rush of feeling back into it. What was he doing? He needed to take advantage of the distance and get away from the East Coast instead of staying here with his neighbor.
The whole damn thing was complicated though. Once he’d learned that Rachel had been separated from her husband for so long—and was now divorced—he should have been able to give himself the green light to act on his carnal desires. But his loyalty to Allyson’s memory held him back, so he and Rachel had just spent time getting to know each other. It was an accepted fact that the woman was going to sleep in his bed each night, but that was as far as either of them was willing to go at this point. They were using each other. His ruined soul benefited from the interaction with Rachel that stayed in the emotional realm instead of venturing to the sexual side, while she obviously enjoyed being able to sleep safely in his arms each night for the past few weeks. It was a little out of the ordinary, but it worked for the two of them.
Asher rinsed his hands in the sink and then reached for his toothbrush. He accidentally hit Rachel’s overnight bag with his wrist, causing it to fall to the floor. He bent stiffly to pick it up and a three-pack of condoms fell to the bathroom floor. Doesn’t hurt to be prepared, he thought and stuffed them back into the bag.
When he finished brushing his teeth, he went into the kitchen to turn the coffee pot on. He’d forgotten to set it the night before and tsked to himself that he was slipping. It was almost eight in the morning and he was just now waking up, another indication that his body had accepted the fact that he was retired and wasn’t going to be getting any more calls to go save the world. Now he had to save himself—and Rachel if she wanted to come along.
With the coffee brewing, he walked to the back door to let Boomer out into the yard and then padded softly back to his bedroom where he slid across the sheets to the sleeping woman. Asher sat up on one elbow and watched her for a moment until her eyes fluttered. “What is it?” she asked sleepily.
“Nothing. Just making some coffee if you want any,” he replied.
“Mmm, sounds good,” she said and placed her hand on his side. She gripped tight, pulling her body across the short distance between them and snuggled her cheek against his chest. “I could just stay here all day though… It’s nice.”
He lay his head down and breathed deeply. The mild cucumber scent of her hair reminded him of Allyson. God, why couldn’t he let himself move on? Rachel was a wonderful, interesting woman that he enjoyed spending time with; why did he have to compare everything about her to Allyson Harper?
Because this woman thinks I worked for an oil company for most of my adult life. He couldn’t tell her what he’d really done. He couldn’t tell her of the different shitholes he’d been to across the globe, answering Uncle Sam’s call to do his bidding. Rachel was a gentle woman; she had probably never even purposefully killed anything bigger than a mosquito in her entire life. Asher was a hunter of men and had the scars to prove it—which he had to lie about when she inquired about their origins.
Why am I denying myself? Besides the whole “everything that she knows about my life before two years ago is a lie” thing, she’s perfect for me.
Asher applied pressure to her lower back and massaged softly. Somehow she squirmed even closer to him and pressed the entire length of her body against him. Rachel shifted slightly and brought her face close to his. She looked directly into his eyes, searching for an indication of his intentions.
The sunlit room fell away as the former operative stared into her blue-gray eyes. In his periphery vision, he saw the corners of her eyes crease as she smiled at him. “What?” she asked.
“I didn’t say anything,” he murmured as her breath warmed his chin.
“Hmm,” she replied and closed the few inches between them. They kissed deeply for several seconds and Asher’s body responded to her touch. She pressed her fingers firmly into his back and rocked her hips into his.
Her hands found his face and she pulled back slightly. “I… Asher, what do you want from me?”
His mind reeled as if he’d been slapped. What the hell? “I don’t want anything from you, RR. I just enjoy spending time with you.”
She nodded and kissed him again before pulling back again. “You said that you made some coffee?”
“Uh, yeah,” he replied.
Rachel ran the tips of her fingers over the hard ridges of his abdominal muscles, stopping just above the waistband to the sleep pants that he wore. Her fingers slipped underneath the elastic for a moment and then she pulled her hand away quickly. “Let’s go get some coffee,” she stated softly. “Do you have plans for the day or can I buy you breakfast?”
Asher couldn’t believe it. She’d gotten him all hot and bothered and now she was disengaging? He really didn’t understand women at all. But just as he wasn’t quite ready for some type of emotional relationship, maybe she wasn’t ready for something physical. He’d take it slow and see what developed.
“Breakfast, with you, sounds great.”
Rachel’s smile spread extremely wide and she pushed him gently to his back. Her leg swung across his body and she straddled his hips, leaning down close to his face and kissed him again. It was deeper and if possible, even more passionate than the one before it and she ground herself hard against him while he cupped her breast.
“Wow,” she breathed. “We better get out of this bed before we both do something that we’re not ready for yet.”
His face must have betrayed his confusion because she answered, “I can tell that you’re not ready for a relationship and I’m not ready to just hop into bed with anyone. Can we just keep this slow? It’s been so nice connecting with you emotionally.”
“Of course,” he replied and self-consciously slid his hands out from under her nightshirt.
“Asher, I like you. I’ve always liked you and believe me, this is a dream come true for me, but I want to be sure that we both know what we’re getting into, okay?”
